To Love and Be Loved By You
by MadisonAnnabelle
Summary: James loved Lily, and Lily loathed James. That's how it's always been, and everyone knew it. But it's their seventh and final year of Hogwarts, and it's full of endings. But maybe, James and Lily can have a beginning.
1. Chapter 1

He loved her. He loved the way her eyes shone like two emeralds, and the fiery gleam of her hair. He loved the way she couldn't help but laugh at his jokes, and the way her laughter chimed through his ears.

 _Lily._

She loathed him. She loathed the way his unruly, raven hair curled at the nape of his neck, and the way his glasses sat crookedly upon his nose. She loathed his robes with their pristine edges which so often had mud and dirt caked into them, and the way his mouth widened lazily into a smile every time he saw her.

 _James._

Chapter One.

Lily smoothed her hand down the brick wall of the corridor, trailing it around the corner and down the grand set of stairs to the Great Hall. Tonight's the big Halloween feast, _My last one at Hogwarts, ever,_ she thinks. This year, Lily will have her last everything at Hogwarts. Her last potions class, her last exams... _Last fights with Potter,_ she thought sadly. She didn't know why the thought had saddened her, she loathed the boy. But their arguments had made up a large portion of her time at Hogwarts (especially now that they were Head Boy and Girl, sharing a dorm together), and she had to admit, she would miss the two of them bickering back and forth. _Ridiculous,_ she thinks, _he could care less if he ever sees me again,_ and with that thought still in mind, she floats around the corner, entering the Great Hall for her last Halloween feast.

James nervously tapped his foot against the stone floors, his food untouched (which he usually crammed down in a few seconds) in front of him. _Today's the day; I'm going to get Lily to go out with me._ This was his last chance. He might never see her again after they leave Hogwarts; he wanted to at least get a proper date with her. James continued kicking his foot around on the stone floor, chewing on his lip nervously while he searched for her.

He supposed he could have done it anytime, in the morning in their dorm, before bed, between classes, anytime. But he didn't know, this time just felt... right.

"Oi, calm down mate, I'm sure it'll all go swimmingly," said Sirius, his mouth dribbling with pumpkin juice. James just shook his head and looked back toward the entrance doors to the great hall, running his long, slender fingers through his messy raven hair.

He was just about to give up and go back to eating when a long flash of fiery hair came around the corner, which could only belong to the lovely Lily. She walked down the Gryffindor table, her head bowed and her arms crossed, not looking at anyone. He stood up and tried to say something, but she just went around him and down the table, sitting with Alice.

Now, you'd think James would've taken a hint and just sat down, but being the stubborn James he was, he followed her to her bench and plopped down just centimeters away from her. "'Lo, Lily," he said with a smile. Lily nodded in his direction and went back to picking at a cherry tart, crumbs piling on her plate. James coughed, "Er, Lily? Well you see I've been asking you for a few years now and I dunno I thought maybe you'd wanna go out with me this weekend? To Hogsmeade? I mean it's fine if you have other plans or you're busy or something or you just don't want to but I just thought-" Lily cut him off mid-ramble with a blank stare, and said, "James, I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you this weekend."

James jaw fell slack and he licked his lips, trying to get some words out. "Really? Are you sure? Positive?" he cut himself off then, chewing on the corner of his lip while he waited for her response. For the first time of the night, he saw the corners of Lily's lips twitch up in a quick smile, a murmur of a laugh spilling out. She pushed her hair behind her ear and said, "James, you'd think after all these years of you begging for a date, you'd just accept it rather quickly, don't you think so?" James went red and let out a nervous chuckle, "Er well yeah you'd think so. But yes, great, I'm glad. I'll meet you at the entrance to the Great Hall then, yeah?" Lily nodded and gave James a quick smile, still fiddling with her cherry tart.

A lop-sided grin split across James face, and he slid a clumsy hand through his hair, making it spike up in all directions. He did a quick wave and went to walk away, but stopped mid-step and pulled a note out of his pocket. He turned around and sat it in front of Lily, spinning back in the opposite direction and walking away before he could see her face. He figured she'd say something later when they were in the dorm together.

James swaggered back over to Sirius, who was now accompanied by Remus and Peter, his two other best friends. He threw himself down on the bench lazily and stared into space with his goofy grin. Peter, who was sitting next to him, poked him with a short, pudgy finger and said, "Oi Prongs, I take it it went well?" James just continued looking around with that same goofy grin, not wanting to ruin his cloud nine feeling.

Lily stared down curiously at the neatly folded note sitting in front of her. Her thumb caressed the crisp edges, and she wondered what its contents were. She decided to leave it for later, when she was alone back in her dorm. Well, mostly alone, apart from James.

She took the note and tucked it away into the breast pocket of her button up, deciding not to think about it for the time being. She continued picking at her bit of cherry tart, idly listening to the conversations going on around her. She hadn't realized until now that not only her best friends, Alice and Dorcas, but the whole table was staring at her. She didn't know who was more shocked, herself or the people who had just witnessed her saying yes to a date with Potter. Looking around her now, she caught a few envious stares of some girls who had always fawned after James.

Soon enough, Lily was back in the Head's Common Room, sitting in her favorite recliner with her feet propped up in front of the fire. She let out a deep sigh as she took the note out from her pocket, bracing herself for what it would say.

Inside the note was a sketch, not the best sketch either, but James had never been an artist. Dainty flowers covered the page; roses, daisies, tulips, sunflowers, and, of course, lilies. The sketch was done in black ink, except for the lilies, which were colored bright yellows and oranges. She was so engrossed by the flowers that she almost didn't see the faint loops of cursive scrawled beneath the flowers that read, "You're the most beautiful flower I've ever seen, Lily, and I've seen a lot of flowers."

Lily felt a grin split across her face, and she hurriedly folded the note back up. She wasn't going to be like the other girls who practically swooned at the antics of James Potter, she had dignity.

Who was she kidding? She smiled to herself again and hopped out of her recliner, headed back to her dorm to get ready for bed. After she had pulled on her favorite nightgown and a pair of socks her mother had knitted for her before she left for Hogwarts, Lily crawled under her covers. She rolled over to face the single window in her dorm, looking out at the bright full moon. Lily knew that James and the rest of the Marauders, as they called themselves, would be out somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, just like every other full moon for the past six years. She had learned over the years to stop trying to figure out all their secrets.

Lily smiled contently to herself, pulling her quilt up to her chin. She looked forward to the morning, to her date with James and anything else that would happen. She went to sleep, feeling optimistic about the day before it had even begun.

Out in the Forbidden Forest, James looked happily up at the moon, wondering if Lily was looking at it too.

* * *

 **Hey guys! I don't know if anyone remembers, but I actually published this chapter, along with 3 others, about two years ago. I've decided to rewrite and publish them again. So, here it is! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think in the reviews! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Maybe if I ignore it it'll go away.

 _Knock. Knock knock knock._

James shoved his head under the pillows, trying to block out the excessive knocking at his door. He groaned loudly as the knocking got louder. Just as he was about to shout a rather rude remark at the knocker, he heard a voice sweet as honey through the door saying, " _Merlin,_ James, you prat, wake up. You're late for breakfast." Okay, so maybe the words weren't that sweet, but the person speaking the words sure was.

He hopped out of bed, still in his boxers, and ran over to the door, swinging it open. He leaned in the doorway almost completely naked, with his wild bedhead sticking up all over the place. He watched Lily's face grow red as she opened and closed her mouth a few times. He grinned wildly at her and tried to pat down his hair a little bit, saying, "Mornin' Lils, care to join me for a nice hot shower?" He winked at her and she scowled, crossing her arms.

"If I were you, I'd skip the shower and just come have some breakfast. I've been waiting for you for ages, so hurry up."

Wait a second.

Lily Evans waited. Lily Evans waited for James Potter. James beamed at her, knowing he must have the goofiest smile on his face. He knew it wasn't a big deal but he had been waiting on her for years, and she had never even given him the time of day.

He rushed into his bathroom and slipped a hand through his hair, brushed his teeth, and got dressed within a few minutes. He left his tie hanging awkwardly around his neck, bounding down the stairs two at a time and through the Heads portrait hole, running straight into Lily's front. She started to wobble backwards, and he caught her by wrapping his arm around her waist securely. He flashed her a quick grin and then spun her upright, facing the direction of the Great Hall. He began to walk ahead when she grabbed his arm and stopped him, spinning him around to face her. She grabbed the ends of his tie and stated, "You look rather silly just hanging that thing around your neck like that. Let me," and she continued to make up his tie around his neck. James could feel the heat reaching his neck, and he blushed red as her cool fingers brushed his hot skin.

Lily finished with his tie and patted it awkwardly, not sure why she had just done that. Lily Evans was not this bold with boys; especially not Potter. She turned and began walking to the Great Hall, James tailing behind her like a lost puppy.

the time they had arrived at the Great Hall, it was mostly empty, everyone going back to their dorms to fetch their things for their classes. James followed Lily down to the end of the table, grabbing whatever hadn't already been scarfed down by the other members of their house. They sat in silence for a few moments, Lily nibbling on a bit of toast, James wolfing down an egg and ham biscuit.

After he had practically inhaled his plate of food and his orange juice, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and said, "So uh, did you, er, read my note?" For a second Lily's eyes got wide and a light blush spread across her cheeks, but she quickly recovered. She looked up at him a few times and then, looking up towards the ceiling, said, "Yes, I read it."

James had wanted her to say what she thought of it, or him in particular. He cleared his throat and asked, "Well, what did you think of it then?"

Lily looked him in the eye now and stated, "I thought it was lovely. It was very sweet of you, James." She gave him a smile and he returned it with a lopsided grin. He was happy that she liked the note, and he absolutely adored it when she said his name.

Snape sat at the far end of the Slytherin table, shredding his toast into bits angrily as he watching _his_ Lily sit with _James._ Now, he knew they hadn't been friends for a while, but it was _still his Lily._ His best friend since childhood. His only _real_ friend. The love of his life. But of course he had royally screwed that up (which was another story for another time.) He could hear Lily's perfect laugh ringing throughout the nearly empty Great Hall, could see her and James sharing wide grins. _He_ should be eating breakfast with Lily. Not _James._ Snape loathed James. Partially because he had been tormenting him and Lily ever since they came to Hogwarts together their first year, but mostly because he had finally succeeded in stealing his Lily away from him.

Snape wanted to be mad at Lily. _Merlin,_ he would do anything to forget her. To stop missing her. Stop loving her. But ever since they met that day so many years ago, she was always on his mind. He hated how much he cared for her. But looking at her, all that anger went away. Just the sight of her freckle-specked, rosy cheeks rising in a grin, her bright emerald eyes glowing whenever she laughed, made it all go away. Just a simple glance in his direction from her could cheer him up. _Too bad you mucked things up,_ he thought to himself bitterly. He sighed as he picked up his shredded piece of toast, nibbling on it as he watched Lily tuck a piece of hair behind her ear. After a few moments of what he called 'observing' (also known as stalking but hey he didn't want to put a damper on the mood, right?), he watched Lily and James rise and walk out of the Great Hall together.

Snape threw down his shredded toast and made a clear space on the table in front of him. He slammed his head down and let out a groan, _why can't I just fix things with her already._ Just then, Snape felt someone plop down next to him and looked up to see a fellow Slytherin of whom he could not remember the name of. He nodded in his direction and the boy grunted in response before leaning towards him and saying, "Not still moping around about that mudblood, are you, Severus?" Snape shot him a look, standing up and swiftly walking out of the hall to head to his first class.

Lily and James spent the rest of their week like that, waking up and walking to the Great Hall together to have breakfast, James walking her to all of her classes, eating dinner together, and then chatting in their Common Room while they did their class work (every now and then accompanied by Remus, Sirius and Peter, of course.) They'd gotten rather close in an oddly short amount of time, and both were absolutely ecstatic.

James was walking down the corridor the night before their date, on his way back to their common room when Lily came around the corner.

"James! There you are," Lily shouted, running towards him from the end of the corridor. James watched her run after him, her long red hair fanning out behind her, cheeks red. She looked so _lovely._ He stopped in his tracks and waited for her to catch up, slowing his pace once they began walking again so she could catch her breath.

"So er- we're still on for the weekend, eh?" Lily had a small blush on her cheeks from running after him (or maybe something else?) and she was licking the dry patches on her lips.

James let out a hearty chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. "You really think I'd cancel on you after all these years? Sure we're still on, Lils." He smiled down at her, another thing he adored; he was about a head taller than her. She was getting cuter by the minute.

She smiled to herself and licked her lips again, nodding at the ground. She looked up at him after a moment and asked, "So, what _do_ you have planned?" James smirked and threw his arm around her shoulder stating, "Well my dear, that's a secret. And if I told you all my secrets, I'd have to kill you." He gave her a stern look and she laughed in response, bumping into him affectionately. James slung an arm around her shoulders, and they walked like this all the way to their common room.

When it neared 10 o'clock, Lily suggested they get to bed, and they parted their ways for the night. James didn't want to see her go, but he figured sleeping a little would calm his nerves. Who would've thought James Potter would be nervous about a date? But it wasn't just any date, it was the date. With Lily bloody Evans.

He walked into his room and shut the door behind him, not bothering to get undressed as her jumped into bed and threw himself under the covers. He looked out the window at the moon and thought about Lily, building scenarios of tomorrow in his head, until finally, his eye lids became heavy and drooped, finally closing as sleep took over and he drifted off.

James rolled over. 11 o'clock. Great. He'd slept an hour. His nerves were _killing_ him. James tried his best to fall back asleep, but at midnight he gave up and got out of bed. He walked through the portrait hole in his common room adjoining the Gryffindor common room, trying to be quiet as he climbed the steps to Sirius, Remus, and Peter's dorm.

He reached the door and pushed it open; trying not to wake up Remus and Peter, but alas, Peter heard the creak of the door and gave a shriek, causing the three of the boys to wake up. Remus immediately sat up, swishing at the lights in the room and flooding them all with the warm yellow glow of the candles. Peter too sat up, but Sirius only pulled his pillow over his head. James walked over and yanked the pillow off of Sirius' head, and Sirius tried and failed to give him a kick.

"You're all prats, I was just having a dream about Marlene and myself in the-"he was cut off when James threw the pillow back at his head.

James paced the room back and forth, running his hands through his hair anxiously. He licked his lips and started, "Well you see, Lily and I have our date tomorrow. I'm a bloody wreck, guys; I don't know what to do. What if this is my only chance? What if I completely ruin things? What if-"

Sirius interrupted him, rubbing a hand along his eyes to get the sleepiness out, stating, "Oh come off, you prat. You two have been nearly inseparable this past week. It'll go fine, I promise. _Swimmingly,_ in fact," Sirius said, a smug grin on his face.

"Okay, one, stop with the 'swimmingly'. Two, you don't know that it won't go wrong! She probably thinks I'm weird. Oh Merlin, do I stink? Do I have bad breath? Quick, Sirius, smell my breath," needless to say Sirius did not smell his breath.

Remus nodded in agreement with Sirius, stating, "It's true, James. Lily mentioned how excited she was when we were studying in the library the other day."

He sat down on what used to be his bed, jamming his fists against his cheeks. He puffed out his chest and lay back, throwing the pillow over his face and muttering into it, "S'alright if I spend the night here?" Maybe he'd be calmer if he wasn't so close to her for the night. They all grunted a short yes and crawled back into their beds, Sirius complaining about all of his bed sheets and pillows being in the floor. Remus shut out the lights with a swish of his wand, and the four boys drifted off the sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

James woke up back in the Heads dorm, he guessed he'd wondered back sometime in the night. He rolled over and grabbed his watch and glasses off his nightstand, shoving his glasses up his nose and waiting for his eyes to adjust to the bright light flooding his room. He lifted his watch to his face and saw that it was already time he should be meeting with Lily!

He went to jump out of bed, getting caught on his sheets and tripping to the floor. He righted himself and headed to the bathroom, throwing his tooth brush in his mouth. He heard a knock at his door then, and a sweet voice saying, "James?"

James was just about to spit out the last of his tooth paste when he saw his door open slowly, and a freckled Lily popped around the corner. She looked at his bed and around his room, finally seeing him standing in the doorway to his bathroom, yet again in his underwear. She blushed a deep red and stated, "James, we really need to stop meeting like this." He chuckled and she began to walk out of his room, hollering over her shoulder, "I'll be waiting out here, and grab your cloak, it's really chilly today."

James smiled to himself as he got ready, running a quick hand through his hair, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose (they were broken on one side, he was simply too lazy to fix them), and pulling on a dark red sweater with jeans and black lace up boots. He walked out into the Heads common room and saw Lily standing by the window, looking out at the lake. He was shock to see when he got closer that it was snowing. James stood in his doorway for a moment or two, taking in the sight of Lily. She had pulled on a bright green sweater, the neck and sleeves poking out from under her black cloak. She turned around then, blushing when she realized he had been watching her. He grinned at her and put up his pointer finger, gesturing for her to wait a moment.

He came back a few seconds later, midnight blue cloak slung over one arm. He walked to the portrait hole, opening it and looking back at Lily. He folded out his arm and said, "After you." Lily laughed and walked through the portrait hole, holding the crook of her elbow out for James to loop his arm through.

James was rather excited about what he'd planned for them, and he began walking at a rather fast pace to get to Hogsmeade. Lily, who was quite a bit shorter, had to take several steps to match one of his. "James, slow down!" James blew a puff of air out of his cheeks, his hair flopping up and down in the front. He stopped and turned around, looking Lily up and down. He shrugged into his big blue cloak, reaching forward and grabbed her, slinging her over his shoulder.

Lily's face blushed red (she seemed to be doing that a lot lately) and she gave him a not-so-hard hit on the shoulder blade. "James. _James._ Put me down this instant." James only laughed in response as she continued beating on his back, until finally she quit and started laughing as well.

With James walking so quickly, they reached the entrance to Hogsmeade in no time. Lily still over his shoulder, they got some rather weird looks as he pushed through the lot of people, shouting, "Oi, coming through here, watch yourselves." The two passed Sirius, Remus and Peter on their way, and they all called out cat calls as James winked at them.

Remus and Peter both shouted things like, "Go Prongs!", and "Good luck, mate!" And then there was Sirius, who thankfully wasn't heard by Lily, saying, "Tell us what her knickers look like!" Which was followed by a rather large thud as Remus smacked Sirius over the head with his book.

After they'd reached a relatively less crowded area, James gently set Lily down on a bench outside of the Three Broomsticks. Lily's face was red, and her hair looked like it was a curly fire around all the snowflakes that had settled in it. James' glasses slid down his nose as he plopped down beside her, and she grabbed them right off his face. "James. Your glasses. They're broken." She looked up at him and he shrugged in response as she pulled out her wand and muttered a jumble of words under her breath. She reached up and slid them back on his face, pushing his hair off his forehead. He muttered out something of a "thanks" to her, going red where her fingers had brushed against his skin. She stood up and lifted up her arms saying, "So, are we eating in here, or what?"

James hopped off the bench and said, "Well, I hadn't really taken the weather into consideration, so we'll have to just stay inside, yeah, we're eating here." Lily thought for a moment and looked back up at him saying, "No, let's go with what you had planned. Don't worry, it won't be too cold." He watched her as she looked around for a moment, picking up a large, empty jar sitting by a trash can. She peeled off the lid and stuck her wand to the lip of the jar, whispering something under her breath as blue fire shot out into the jar. She shut the jar and walked over to James, showing him what she'd done. Immediately he felt some warmth come back to his nose and cheeks, and he smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the Three Broomsticks with him.

He walked up to the bar and ordered fish and chips, Lily asked for the same. They grabbed four, warm Butterbeers on their way out, James leading Lily down the mostly empty, snow covered road. They pasted several shops, their doorbells tinkling as people entered from the cold.

After walking for a short time, they reached a rather large clearing that was now a blanket of snow. James trudged through the snow, Lily jumping into the spaces where his feet had been so she wouldn't sink in the snow and get soaked. James stopped once they had walked far enough away from the road, and pulled a thin yellow blanket from the pocket of his cloak. He spread it out widely and it paled against the snow. He smiled over at Lily, grabbing their plates of food and plopping down, sitting the food next to him. He patted the spot in front of him and Lily plopped down, crossing her legs Indian style. She set the jar of blue flames in between them, rubbing her hands together.

Even with the fire, Lily's hands were still a bit cold and, having noticed, James took them and folded them in his, putting them up to his mouth as he blew hot air into the small gap between her fingers. Lily looked at him, her big gleaming eyes staring into his. Her cheeks got a bit pinker, but it wasn't from the cold. They sat like this, their food lying forgotten next to them as they talked about nothing and everything all at once.

James let go of her hands briefly to grab the Butterbeers, which thankfully stayed warm next to the blue flame. They both drank the warm liquid, grateful for the warmth that flooded them. He took another swig and then sat down his bottle, looking at Lily thoughtfully. "Have you ever had a snowball fight, Lily?"

Lily sat down her Butterbeer and looked at James, shaking her head. "No, but they seem awfully fun." James eyes grew rather large and he jumped up, grabbing Lily's hand and pulling her farther out into the field. Lily squealed and laughed as the snow seeped into her shoes, running after James. He stopped her after a moment and ran a little while further down the field, leaving footprints in the newly shed snow. She watched him turn around, leaning down to the snow.

He made a smile pile of snowballs, stacking them in front of his feet. He picked one up and chucked it in the air, catching it smoothly.

"Okay, so, I'm sure you know the objective of this. There is none. Just hit me. With snow. Everywhere," he said with a straight face. Seconds later he let out a cry and came charging at Lily, throwing the snowball at her shoulder.

Lily squeaked and grabbed handfuls of snow, shaping it into a not so smooth ball, slinging it at his back as he ran back to his mound of snow. He hurtled snowball after snowball at her, and she threw her rather square lumps of snow at him, her aim having much improved since the time she threw a rock at him (well, tried) during third year and had hit the tree, two feet to his left.

They continued on like this for a while, until both their hands and feet were numb from the snow. James started to walk over to the fire, and while he had his back turned, Lily sprinted up to him and tackled him to the ground, rolling over the top of him and landing beside him.

James laughed loudly and looked over at her adoringly. He loved her. He loved the way her eyes shone like two emeralds, and the fiery gleam of her hair. He loved the way she couldn't help but laugh at his jokes, and the way her laughter chimed through his ears.

Lily looked back at him, her brow dipping. She loathed him. She loathed the way his unruly, raven hair curled at the nape of his neck, and the way his glasses sat crookedly upon his nose. She loathed his robes with their pristine edges which so often had mud and dirt caked into them, and the way his mouth widened lazily into a smile every time he saw her. But, at the same time, she knew she was lying to herself. And she had to admit that all the things she claimed to hate about him, she adored. How _could_ she hate him, he was simply wonderful.

They stared at each other, grins slowly fading as their faces slowly came together, until finally they were so close they could feel the other's hot breath on their cheeks.

"Are you going to kiss me or not, Potter?" James smiled as he inclined his head to hers, his mouth pressing softly against hers.

He pulled away, and Lily's hand came up to hold his cheek as she muttered, "I can't stand you, you know that?" and she pulled him in for another kiss, loving the taste of Butterbeer against her mouth.

They stayed like that for a while, arms and lips intertwined, until James looked at his watch and realized they only had about fifteen minutes to get back. He pointed this out to Lily and they got up, staring adoringly at one another as they gathered their things and headed back to the main road. They threw away their bottles and food in the dumpster by the Three Broomsticks, putting out the little blue flame and leaving the jar behind. Lily shyly laced her fingers through his, and he beamed at her as they began walking back to Hogwarts.

When they reached the doors the Hogwarts, she saw Remus, Sirius and Peter waiting for James with big grins on their faces. Not wanting to keep him from his friends, she hopped up and pecked him lightly on the nose, before skipping off down the hall to their common room. She waved at Sirius and the others as she walked by, winking at them.

 _I really, really do loathe him,_ Lily thought to herself adoringly, _So much._


End file.
